Homtou Village

Located in Jiapeng Township, Jixi County, Anhui Province, Hetou village is an ancient village with a long history. From the perspective of cultural landscape and natural landscape, it can be regarded as a very characteristic village. The village is more than 1000 meters above sea level, surrounded by mountains and water. The villagers build houses along the two sides of the valley. There are many stone steps. Even some houses have to be stepped up from the door to the bed, so the name of the village is commonly known as "juotou". The eight character ballad "Hetou village, bed three stalls" vividly depicts the ups and downs of the topography of Hetou village.

Homtou Village

Located in Jiapeng Township, Jixi County, Anhui Province, Hetou village is an ancient village with a long history. From the perspective of cultural landscape and natural landscape, it can be regarded as a very characteristic village. The village is more than 1000 meters above sea level, surrounded by mountains and water. The villagers build houses along the two sides of the valley. There are many stone steps. Even some houses have to be stepped up from the door to the bed, so the name of the village is commonly known as "juotou". The eight character ballad "Hetou village, bed three stalls" vividly depicts the ups and downs of the topography of Hetou village.

In December 2018, the Ministry of housing and urban rural development plans to list Hetou village in the fifth batch of Chinese traditional villages.

In January 2019, Hetou village was selected as the seventh batch of famous historical and cultural villages in China.

On June 6, 2019, it will be included in the list of the fifth batch of Chinese traditional villages.

A brief introduction to Hetou Village

Among the numerous ancient villages in the mountainous area of Southern Anhui, the most distinctive one is Jitou village in Jixi. The village is surrounded by mountains and water. There are Wenbi pier, Shizi pier, taling pier, baguating pier, dongshanying pier and five piers scattered in the village. There are Shoushan screen, Yanghe screen and Pingdingshan screen on the side of the village. There are three screens in the village. There are fanzengjian (1349 meters above sea level), huangmaojian (1278 meters above sea level), menqianyan, shanyunjian, taipaojian and modaoshijian on the periphery of the village. There are six mountains in front of the village. The Yunchuan River, which originated from Jingzhou and Houtou mountains, winds its way through the village in an "s" shape from south to north.

There are long water streets on both sides of Yunchuan stream in Hetou village. The two streets on both sides of the stream, named "Water Street", are paved with granite strips. They are typical ancient Huizhou roads. Along the street, you can see six peaks surrounding the village. The folk houses are built along the two sides of the stream, which are stacked in layers. There are many alleys on both sides of the street, which are deep and secluded. It is said that in some residents' homes, even if they go to bed, they have to pick up the steps. As the saying goes, when they go to bed, they have to pick up the steps. This paper describes the ups and downs of the topography of Hetou village incisively and vividly. Think about the name "Hetou", which vividly summarizes the geographical characteristics of the village.

The origin of nouns

Hetou village was founded in 1369. Xu Tailai, the 22nd grandson of Xu Ru (who lives in Xu village of Shexian county), who is the ancestor of Xin'an Xu family, fell in love with this "Fengshui treasure land" with "beautiful clouds and mountains, and flowing rivers". They moved from Yunchuan bridge to xingmeiyuan village, which is five li away from here. They built ancestral temples and multiplied the population. There are wenbidun, shizidun, talingdun, baguadun and dongshanyingdun in the village. There are shoushanping, yangheping and pingdingshanping beside the village. There are fanzengjian (1349 m above sea level), huangmaojian (1278 m above sea level), menqianyan (1109 m above sea level), shanyunjian, taipaojian and modaoshishan around the village It is as powerful as the sky. The Yunchuan River (also known as "Jianzhou", commonly known as "Hetou River") originated in Jinghe mountain passes through the village in an "s" shape, creating the "Water Street" built in the early summer of 1859. The "Water Street" is about one kilometer long, with a drop of about 30 meters at the end of the village. It is paved with granite strips. The streets are set with steps along with the stream drop. Ten bridges (including six stone arch bridges) integrate the two sides of the village. The corresponding 28 water taking Shihou on both sides not only facilitates the villagers to take water and wash, but also forms a major feature of the village. The old village built along the river is about one kilometer long and 500 meters wide. It is big in the middle and small at both ends. It looks like a golden turtle. Along the two sides of the stream, houses were built on the mountain, and there were many stone steps. So there was the saying of "three stalls in the bed of hotou hotou", which may be the origin of hotou village

Ancient architecture of Ming and Qing Dynasties

More than 90% of the ancient buildings in the village were built in the Ming, Qing and early Republic of China. Rows of houses are covered with white walls and tiles, and the ancient appearance remains the same. The old village is more than one kilometer long and about 500 meters wide. It is small at both ends and big in the middle. It looks like a goldfish. The two streets along the stream bank are called Shuijie, all paved with granite strips. There are 14 ancient lanes, 10 ancient bridges, 10 ancient ancestral halls, 5 ancient temples, 5 ancient millers, 4 ancient lanes, 2 ancient buildings. In the stream along the water street, there are 28 water taking stone pits. When you enter the village, you can see that the water falls like a shallow waterfall, but you can hear the sound of running water.

Most of the houses in the village are two-story buildings with "four water Guiming hall" (commonly known as patio) inside, with three rooms and two passing rooms. The structure is reasonable and practical. With exquisite carving techniques and rich and colorful patterns, the cornices of Dougong, lattice and partition are all carved. The hall is decorated with tables, eight immortals tables, plaques and couplets, which clearly reflects the Confucian tradition of ancient Huizhou. Ancient alleys crisscross, sheep intestine hundred fold, winding path. Some of the ancient alleys pass through the bottom of the residential buildings with unique features. Three ancient memorial archways with exquisite stone carvings (mostly high relief) stand in the water street, which is admirable.

Tingquan building

The Tingquan building next to Xu's ancestral hall is unique and conspicuous. In the midsummer of the Xianfeng Period of the Qing Dynasty (1859), the plaque inscribed by county magistrate Wang Jun is still hanging upstairs. There are four strings of wind chimes hanging at the corner of the building, which emit different sounds with different wind directions. You can listen to the bells and know the weather changes. When you climb the building at night, you can hear the spring water gurgling out of the stream at the bottom of the building, like the sound of admiration.

Strolling in Hetou, small bridge and flowing water, a simple and elegant mountain village. In ancient times, Hetou was called Jianzhou. In the past, people summed up the beautiful scenery of the village as "eight sceneries of Jianzhou": Yuxiu of Zengfeng, teapots made of stone, Qingxu of stone room, immortal traces of rock, Jinzhang of Pingkai, Tianma of luanheui, Jinyu of Zhouyong and Mingpei of Yuquan. It can be said that one scene at a time, one scene at a time, one scene at a time, one scene at a time.

Standing outside the village, you can see that the horse head walls are arranged in layers, with smooth lines, extended space and overall harmony, showing that the architectural style is quite unified. The village has been listed as a historical and cultural reserve in Anhui Province, praised by ancient architecture experts as "the Pearl of Huizhou Ancient Villages", and praised by Japanese friends as "the main teaching material of Chinese ancient dwellings and ancient villages".

Hetou village has become one of the famous scenic spots of shennongzhai scenic spot in Jixi County, Xuancheng City.

Address: Jiapeng Township, Jixi County, Anhui Province

Longitude: 118.81718740493

Latitude: 30.236891595695

Chinese PinYin : Kan Tou Cun